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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>now to a surprising decision from the
white house
about who will represent the
white house
at the
winter olympic games
in
russia
in february and who is not. the president and first lady are not going. some of those they have chosen to send will be there in effect to send a message about the russian crackdown on
gay people
. chief
white house
correspondent
chuck todd
from the
north lawn
with details on this tonight. good evening.

>> reporter: good evening, brian. it's no secret that relations between
russia
and the
united states
and specifically
president obama
and
vladimir putin
are not good. a post
cold war
low. it appears the hard feelings are now spilling over into the upcoming
winter olympics
. for the first time since
2000
, the u.s. delegation to an
olympics
will not include a member of the first family, a vice president, or a former president. instead the delegation to sochi will be led by a former
cabinet secretary
,
janet napolitano
, and feature two
openly gay
former athletes,
olympic medalistcaitlin cahow
and
billie jean king
. the president cancelled a summit due to
russia
offering asylum to edward snowden.

>>i think this delegation brings attention to the remarkable diversity of the
united states
.

>> reporter: the president has been leveling criticism at
russia
for months.

>>every judgment should be made on the track or in the swimming pool or on the
balance beam
. people's sexual orientation shouldn't have anything to do with it.

>> reporter: america's ambassador to
russia
said in september the u.s. will walk a diplomatic line on these issues when the games begin. is the
united states
encouraging social protest of sorts at that time
olympics
?

>>no. that's not our job.

>> reporter: like mexico '68? does the
united states
want that?

>>athletes are athletes. they are not diplomats. that's for us to do. we want to protect their views while they are there.

>> reporter: cahow hopes her presence as a delegate sends a signal to
russia
and others.

>>i'm going as a representative of the
united states
which embraces my dignity and my freedom. i will go to
russia
gladly.

>> reporter: some believe the president inadvertently snubbed the athletes and the
olympic committee
which could hurt the u.s. chances at hosting in the future.

>>you could make a compelling argument that
president obama
is disrespecting the american athletes by not going himself. it would be a different signal if
president obama
had gone himself and sent
billie jean king
with him.

>> reporter: while a delegation solution is a diplomatic poke in the eye the u.s. could scare tourists away if the it issues a travel alert for sochi. the games will take place less than 100 miles from one of the terrorist hot zones, the north caucuses of
russia
but there are no current plans to issue the alert.

>>all right, the
olympics
already fraught. before we let you go, there was news today at the
white house
regarding the
nsa data mining
.

>> reporter: the
white house
decided to make public a report that it solicited from an outside
task force
to figure out how to reform the nsa's collection activities in a way that restores trust with the agency. they made a bunch of recommendations. here are four that matter. they would like to see that it no longer would have the
government house
the so-called me ta phone and internet data. let the phone and internet companies themselves do it. no more blanket
court orders
for phone and internet data. let the government show legal cause for every instance when it needs phone and internet data. allow private phone companies to make public each time it is forced to
turn over
data to the company and perhaps take the nsa away from the control of the military and instead have a civilian put in charge who is subject to
senate confirmation
and
congressional oversight
. the president hasn't decided if he'll accept any of the recommendations. we will find this out after the new year.